The Gifts Are For Today (Continuationism)

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit are for Today!

1Co 12:1 “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant”.

Here we have, not just a statement concerning “spiritual gifts”, but we have a cloaked prophecy about the appalling “ignorance” of the Holy Spirit in our own day. Paul anticipated an “ignorance” “concerning spiritual gifts”. Chapters 12-14 of 1Corinthians was designed by God to combat such “ignorance”.

“Ignorant” means “to lack intelligence”, “to lack understanding”. Ignorance is basically the kind of thinking that exists in the world. It should not be the kind of thinking that exists in God’s children. “Ignorance”, as used by Paul, could be translated by our term “mentally retarded”. John Gill says that as it is used here, it applies to 1). ignorance of the source or author of the gifts…The Holy Spirit Himself and 2). ignorance of the design and use of the gifts. Both forms of ignorance are unacceptable among the people of God.

There is no reason to be “ignorant“, especially since the Holy Spirit through Paul provides adequate truth to combat and destroy such Godless thinking. Mentally retarded Christians are a contradiction in terms. We are not “retarded” or “ignorant” because we have His truth in us and we walk according to it (Jn. 1: 17; Jn. 4: 23-24; Jn. 5: 33; Jn. 8: 32; Jn. 8: 44; Jn. 14: 6, 17; Jn. 15: 26; Jn. 16: 13; Jn. 17: 17, 19; Jn. 18: 37; 1Cor. 13: 6; 2Cor. 13: 8; Gal. 2: 5; Gal. 3: 1; Gal. 5: 7; Eph. 4: 25; Eph. 5: 9; Eph. 6: 14; 1Thess. 2: 13; 2Thess. 2: 13; 1Tim. 2: 4; 1Tim. 6: 5; 2Tim. 2: 15; 2Tim. 3: 7; 2Tim. 4: 4; Tit. 1: 1; Heb. 10: 26; James 5: 19-20; 2Pet. 1: 12; 1Jn.1: 6; 1Jn. 2: 21, 27; 1Jn. 4: 6; 1Jn. 5: 6 (b); 2Jn. 1: 2; 2Jn. 1: 4; 3Jn 1:3, 4). When Paul says: “I would not have you to be ignorant” (1Cor 10: 1; 1Cor. 12: 1) he is stating the desire of the Holy Spirit that God’s people should be knowledgeable and enlightened by the truth that He puts within them. Failure to respond to the truth within, and the truth revealed, is a sign that you are not a believer at all. The spiritually mentally retarded are lost, and need the light and truth of salvation to shine in their hearts and minds. “We are not of them that draw back unto perdition” (He. 10: 39). We are people of the light (Matt. 4: 16; Matt. 5: 14-15; Matt. 6: 22-23; Lk. 8: 16; Lk. 11: 34-36; Jn. 1: 4-9; Jn. 3: 19-21; Jn. 8: 12; Jn. 11: 9-10; Jn. 12: 36; Jn. 12: 46; Acts 26: 18 (a); Rom. 13: 12; 2Cor. 4: 4, 6; Eph. 5: 8, 13-14; Col. 1: 12; 1Thess. 5: 5; 1Pet. 2: 9; 2Pet. 1: 19; 1Jn. 1: 7; Rev. 21: 23-24). Notice especially 1Thess. 5: 5 “Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness”. To say otherwise is to make God into a liar. “We are not of the night, nor of darkness”. This truth means that we are, therefore, not of the spiritually retarded and spiritually ignorant.

Spiritual Retardation is the condition of the lost, not the condition of the saved.

1. Some Points in Which the Ignorance of God’s Spiritual Gifts is in Evidence Today.

People are ignorant of exactly “who” the Holy Spirit is. He is God (Matt. 3: 16; Jn. 4: 24; Rom. 8: 9, 14; Rom. 8: 27; Rom. 15: 19; 1Cor. 2: 10-12; 1Cor. 3: 16; 1Cor. 6: 11; 1Cor. 12: 3; 2Cor. 3: 3; Gal. 4: 6; Eph. 2: 22; Eph. 4: 30; Eph. 6: 17; 2Thess. 2: 13; 1Tim. 3: 16; Heb. 9: 14; Heb. 10: 29; 1Pet. 1: 2; 1Pet. 3: 18; 1Pet. 4: 6 (b); 1Pet. 4: 14; 1Jn. 4: 2). Because He is God, then He will do the works of God. God, of course, is Omnipotent. He does whatever He wants to do (Ps. 115:3, 135:5-6, Job 23:13; Dan. 4:25; Matt. 20: 15). Because there is widespread “ignorance” in this area many falsely teach that the Holy Spirit cannot, and does not, give His gifts unto the church today. Such a teaching is ridiculous, and “retarded“. It is the thinking of lost people, and not the thinking of God. He is God, and He dispenses His gifts Sovereignly as God, and no man can say unto Him: “What doest Thou?” (Job 9: 12; Eccl. 8: 4; Ezek. 12: 9; Dan. 4: 35).

People are ignorant of “what” the Holy Spirit does. We have indicated above that the Holy Spirit does what the Holy Spirit wants to do, because He is God. People are always trying to create a God in their own image and in their own likeness. They want a God who fit’s their ignorant notions, and not the God of the Bible. They want to force God into a little box, or into an unreasonable corner where He is limited as to what He can or cannot do. Many pay lip-service to what God can do, claiming to believe in His Sovereign omnipotence. But in reality and practice, their God is no more Sovereign than Peter Pan or Humpty Dumpty. They limit God, by their limited imaginations. They cannot conceive of God giving the miraculous gifts of the Spirit today, so they therefore reject this aspect of His Sovereignty. Their rejection does not change, or in any way alter, the fact that the Holy Spirit does what He wants. He does what He wants all the time, and without exception. He is God.

People are ignorant because they are afraid of abuses of the Holy Spirit’s power. Paul clearly had abuses in mind as he wrote the book of 1Corinthians. They were a church which was filled with “carnal” people (1Cor. 3: 1, 3-4). As a result of tolerating those kinds of people within the assembly, there were many abuses of the “gifts of the Holy Spirit”. Paul was “regulating” the use of the “gifts”. He was not “banning” their use. As with anything else spiritual, there is the “true“, and there is the “false“. To throw out the “true” simply because the “false” exists, is to throw out the baby with the bath water. God hasn’t done this, nor should we do it.

We must simply learn the correct applications of the truth, and we must learn to recognize that which is false. There are many false things happening in the name of God today. But just because the falsehoods exist, does not mean that we should be afraid of that which is “True”, “Real”, “Powerful”, and “Abiding” concerning the Holy Spirit. Overreacting simply because there are abuses and potentials for abuse is never a right stance for us to take. God is fully capable of seeing to it that the “true gifts” of the Holy Spirit are administered faithfully and purely as they were on Pentecost and throughout the book of Acts. Corinth is not the “norm” as far as the use of the gifts are concerned. It is the ‘exception” not the “norm”. So we have to always keep this in mind, when we are trying to use Corinth as a basis for our teachings concerning the gifts. Paul was consciously trying to “regulate” the gifts in Corinth, because there were abuses. But in Acts, on the other hand, the gifts are “unregulated” and operate freely by the power of God. “Regulation” was unnecessary because “abuse” was not yet present in the churches. So, Acts is the “normative” teaching on the Holy Spirit, not Corinth. This will upset some people who’s favorite chapters are 1Cor. 12-14, but so be it. Those chapters are “regulatory” in nature, and are not meant to be the doctrinal foundation of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Acts is the foundation, not Corinth. If we keep this in mind, we should have no reason to be afraid of the “Ghost”.

People are ignorant of God’s spiritual gifts, and their use, because there is a lack of solid scriptural and doctrinal teaching on this subject. The so called “orthodox” churches have virtually abandoned speech concerning the “gifts” because they do not want to be associated with the unscriptural and fleshly excesses of the Charismatic and Pentecostal movements. This concern is a valid one, because clearly the scriptures teach: “What fellowship hath light with darkness?” (2Cor. 6: 14; 1Jn 1: 5-7; Eph. 5; 11-12). But just because the concern is valid does not mean that the subject should be avoided. We are to confront the enemies of the truth, wherever they may be found, and we are to overcome them in total victory by the use of “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Eph. 6: 17; Heb. 4: 12). Spiritual “retreat” is spiritual “defeat“. Our warfare against the forces of darkness is not defensive, it is offensive. We must rout out all those opposed to the truth, every heresy and every heretic; expose them; plunge the “sword of the Spirit” deep within them; and conquer them in the name and power of Jesus Christ; forcing them, by His Almightiness, to repent and believe. This is our mission. This is our task. This is the great commission. We do this by our speech. “How shall they hear without a preacher?“ (Rom. 10: 14). We do this by our Biblical speech. We do this by our actions. We do this with our doctrine. We do this in our clear teaching. We do not do this if we ignore, or pretend, that the correct Biblical doctrines do not apply, are not important, or cannot correct any and all errors.

People are ignorant of the truths of the Spirit’s gifts because they love darkeness. The truth is opposed to darkness, but the scriptures are clear that the natural tendancy of men is to “Love darkness rather than light” (Jn. 3: 19). It is not believers who act this way, but unbelievers. Loving darkness and believing lies, is a sign of reprobation (2Thess. 2: 11). People who claim to be children of God, but who love to be in spiritual darkness, are not Christians no matter what they claim to be. “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: (1Jn. 1: 6). A true child of God wants to correct his errors, cast them from his mind, and flee from them, continuously fleeing into the light of truth. He does not want, or permit, fellowship with darkness in his thinking. He embraces and does the truth. He does not walk in darkness. He finds error and falsehood to be repugnant, and he is constantly opening up his mind to inspection by God, and he is constantly letting God’s thoughts transform his own thinking (Rom 12: 2), and he is constantly repenting of sinful errors and deeds (1Jn. 1: 9), and is ever following God to new heights of glorious sunshine and Divine illumination. Darkness is never what a believer loves. Darkness is always what he seeks to overcome. Tolerance of darkness is a sign of death not life. Knowledge of this fact, should cause every casual professor of faith to examine himself, whether he is really a believer or not (2Cor. 13: 5)? There is no room for darkness in any child of the King. Expunge it. Crucify it. Get rid of it. Flee from it. But don’t ever tolerate it in your soul. It is a seed of destruction, not “His seed” which is supposed to be in us (1Jn. 3: 9; 1Pet. 1: 23).

People are ignorant of the Holy Spirit’s gifts because of the doctrine of “Cessationism”. Cessationism is the doctrine which teaches that the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit were only for the formative age of the church. The church was growing, and the canon of the Scriptures was not yet complete, therefore God granted “signs and wonders” to serve as a system of validation for the truth of the Apostolic message. When the canon of Scripture was completed, with the last book of the Apostle John (Revelation), there was no longer any need for “sign gifts” (this is an unscriptural term, but one that is often used in connection with the doctrine of Cessationism). The so-called “sign gifts” ceased because “that which is perfect has come” (1Cor. 13: 10). According to this view, (which seems to be a forced interpretation of 1Cor. 13: 10), “That which is perfect” is “the Bible”. This view has little to commend it scripturally. In fact it seems diametrically opposed to the clear teachings of Jesus Christ Himself. Christ taught that the Holy Spirit’s presence, (power, gifts and all), was to continue in the lives of believers till the end of time (Jn. 14:12; Jn 16: 7, 13-15; Mark 16: 15-20). Joel’s prophecy (Joel 2: 28-32) was to be fulfilled “in the Last days”. Acts 2: 16-21 says “the last days” had arrived. Later, God used John to clearly state when this period of “signs and wonders”(The Last Days) was to end. Look up Revelation 6: 12-17. “The last days” will end at the second coming of Christ (2Thess 1: 7-10). His coming is called “that day” (v.10). “That day” is the end of “the last days”. It is also called “The Last Day” (Jn. 6: 39-40, 44, 54; Jn. 11: 24; Jn. 12: 48). “The last day” is the final day of “the last days”. They do not end till it takes place. There are no other “days“, after the “Last Day”. Eternity follows this “day“, and time shall be no more. The gifts which are associated with “the Last Days” operate concurrent with the entire span of “the last days”. We have nothing to say that the gifts predicted in Joel, and commencing on Pentecost, will cease prior to the ending day of “the last days”. They will end, like everything else in the present system, on the “Last Day”. The doctrine that the “signs and wonders” of Pentecost are to continue throughout the entire “church age” is a doctrine which is very difficult, if not impossible, to disprove. 1Cor. 13: 9-10 is not capable of doing that, because the whole manner of interpreting ’that which is perfect” as “the Bible” is purely subjective and is not substantiated by any clear Bible references. The idea that “That which is perfect” is “the Lord Jesus Christ” at His second coming on “the Last Day”, fits in perfectly with the concept of the duration of the “last days” being the span of time from the first coming to the second coming. It’s very easy to prove from the Scriptures that Jesus Christ is “That which is perfect”. Thus both Joel and Acts have something to say, all the way up till the time when Christ returns at the great an notable “Day of the Lord”. There is essentially no difference between the argument that Christ is “that which is perfect” and the argument which says “that which is perfect” is the church at maturity (see. v.11). The church reaches maturity at the second coming. Both these arguments are the same and are interchangeable (See the notes on Acts 2:39 in the next paragraph).

Acts 2:39 seems without doubt, when read in this context of “the Last Days”. “For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call”. The phrase “All that are afar off” is synonymous with the phrase “Even as many as the Lord our God shall call”. In other words the gifts of Pentecost will remain operational till every last person is called into the family of God. They are “afar off”, a term that is meaningless if the gifts were to end within one generation i.e. “your children”. Whatever God is speaking about here, is applicable “afar off” (in far distant times) and to “as many as the Lord God shall call” (to every one of the elect in all the ensuing ages). There really is no room for “Cessationism” in a Biblical Theology of the Holy Spirit. It just does not jive with scripture, therefore it should be abandoned.

2. Some points in which our Orthodoxy has to change in order to honor God and His truth.

The Church is not static, it is always changing. Paul is careful to describe the church as a living organism…a “body”…“The Body of Christ”( 1Cor. 12: 27; Eph. 4: 12). It is alive, and like all living things; it grows, it learns, it changes and it interacts with other types of ’bodies” or “beings”. This is why the church confronts unbelievers. This is why the church is told to “resist the devil” (James 4: 7). This is why the church preaches to win men to the Lord Jesus Christ. Our message substantiates the fact that we are alive. We do all these things because we are alive. As the living “Body of Christ” we are told to “grow up in Him” (Eph. 4: 15), and to “Grow in the grace and the knowledge of Him” (2Pet. 3: 18). Why then, do we get locked into unscriptural notions and ideas (like Cessationism), which are not taught in the Word of God? We cannot persist in traditionalisms, and doctrines of men, which are without warrant from the Bible. “God is to be true, and every man is to be a liar” (Rom. 3: 4; Jn. 3: 33; Tit. 1: 2). We must change when we are wrong. We must honor Him, and not our own personal opinions, traditions, wishes and wants. We are wrong and must change. He is never wrong, and cannot change.

The Reformation did not end in 1627. The reformation is a movement which is always to be “reforming“. The reformation is to be “Reformed”. The whole idea is scriptural, and is essential to the health of the church. The reformation did not end….it is still going on! To be “Reformed” is to be “reforming”. We are always “reforming”, not because truth has changed…That is impossible. We are “reforming” because our understanding, and our grasp of the truth is always changing. It is we who must “reform” and not the truth. We must change, because the truth can never change. The truth was the same in 1627 as it is today. But we no longer ride horses, or read by candlelight. Times change, people change, society changes, and the way that the unchanging truth is applied, changes to meet the demands and needs of each and every age. For instance there was no internet, and no pornography in 1627. Does that mean that the Biblical applications do not apply today, because they did not apply back then? Certainly not. The applications are always changing, but the truths which are being applied never change. We reform our mindset, our message, and our mission to meet the needs of our day, not to live in the past. This seems to be a big problem within the solidly Reformed churches. We are living in the past, for all practical intents and purposes. We celebrate this ancient confession, this historical document, this puritanical author, or this old set of books. What on earth are we doing? What we ought to be doing is speaking the unchanging truth to our own day, using our own “relevant” material, and not trying to shove John Calvin or any other bye-gone era or archaic tradition down somebody’s throat. I’m not discounting the value of the truth as it was expressed historically in past ages. I even include a lot of this old stuff on my web site. There is certainly value in the historic truths of the Christian faith. But we cannot live in the past. Whatever we digest from it, must be presented new and fresh for our own generation, in our own language. We have got to be today’s reformers, and not leftovers from 1627.

Reformed Churches and Leaders must not be associated with the Charismatic / Pentecostal Movements. I have seen some Reformed churches, eager to embrace the gifts of the Holy Spirit, calling themselves “Reformed Charismatics” or “Reformed Pentecostals”. This is a grave error in my opinion. Just because we may believe in “the Gifts”, does not mean that we are automatically to be associated with movements which present superfluous and heretical views of the power and workings of the Holy Spirit. The problem with the Charismatic and Pentecostal movements (I will refer to them simply as “costal’s and matic’s”), is their extreme doctrinal deficiency. They don’t care about doctrine, and they are even proud of that fact. Almost without exception these movements are purely Arminian, and they champion the freedom of the human will and the sovereignty of man. False doctrine is never the bridesmaid of the truth. The serious doctrinal errors of these movements indicate that what they are presenting is man-centered, ego-centric, humanistic, experiential and isolated from the doctrinal truths of Scripture. Feelings without any basis in fact. Emotionalism over against the truth of Scripture. We should have nothing to do with this. We should not fellowship with them. We should not give them a nod of approval. They are wrong. They are heretical from the word go. We should not lay down with them in their bed of spiritual iniquity and charlatanism. This is not to say that all the people who are caught up in, and deceived by the movement, are bad people. They are not. I have relatives in my own family who are “costal and matic” .There are multitudes of very sincere people in the movements. And thanks to the Grace of God, many of them are probably genuine Christians, who truly love the Lord, they are just deceived and ill-taught. But this is not true of all of them, and it is certainly not true of most of their false prophets, miracle-workers, evangelist’s and televangelist’s. All of Paul’s stern warnings against the abuse of the gifts in the Corinthian church, certainly apply to the modern day Charismatic and Pentecostal movements. We are not “Charismatic” simply because we believe in the “charisma”. Nor are we are “Pentecostal” simply because we seek, and expect, the gifts that were manifested on the day of “Pentecost“. These terms are dangerous misnomers, and we should never be associated with them if we are truly Reformed or truly Biblicist‘s. We can use the word “Charismatic” in a Biblical sense, but we must be careful to define the term correctly. Personally, I feel that it is best to not use the word at all, since it has so many negative and hurtful connotations in our day. The same is true for the word “Pentecostal”. These words have been grossly perverted, and do not mean what they should mean, and therefore it is probably best not to use them at all. They are terms which have no useful purpose to a Reformed minister or a Reformed congregation. I can believe that Cessationism is false and believe at the same time that the “costal’s and matic’s” are false also. Believing in Cessationism is not the only alternative to believing in the Charismatic and Pentecostal movements. As a matter of fact, Cessationism is not a good alternative at all, because it eliminates huge chunks of the New Testament from the life and history of God’s Church. Reformed people, Biblicist’s, are Bible-believing people, not Bible-twisting people. We let God be God. We let God say what He means, and mean what He says. We let the Holy Spirit do what He wants, in spite of our Theology. This is what it means to be Reformed. It is the constant bringing of our minds, hearts, practices and passions to the touchstone of God’s unchanging truth. It is yielding to what He says, even though we may not fully understand it. This is what Christians do…They agree with God no matter what. They proclaim the whole counsel of God, without forcing it into some artificial and man made channel or stricture. Of course we believe in God’s gifts. He is their giver. How can you not believe in the gifts? Have you never read the Bible? The gifts are everywhere. Shall we say to Him: “wait a minute God, you can’t be giving this gift or that gift, because you quit doing that…remember?” Of course we would not speak to God like that. But that is exactly what Cessationism does. It speaks to God as if He forgot what He’s not supposed to do. Cessationism is blasphemy. Reformed people cannot continue to embrace such heretical notions and such low views of the Sovereign Lord. “Every good gift, and every perfect gift comes down from Him” (James 1: 17). And how, or when, or why, He gives what He gives, to whom He chooses to give it, is none of our business. “Let all the earth keep silence before Him” (Hab. 2: 20).

Revival brings the true manifestations of God’s “presence”. I have been a Biblicist and a Reformed pastor for over 30 years, and like most Calvinistic ministers, I have longed for, and prayed for, God to rend the heavens and pour out a plentiful effusion of the Holy Spirit. I have sought, like many others, for God to give us another “Great Awakening”, such as that experienced by the church under the influence of Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield. But I have also come to realize that revival is nothing more than the experience of the “presence” of God in a new and powerful way. It is God manifesting His “presence” in the anxious and repentant hearts of His people. And wherever God’s “presence” is manifested, there will also be God’s “power”. The two things cannot ever be separated. They were joined forever at Pentecost. The “presence” brings the ’’power”, and the “power” is the indication of the “presence”. I’m not saying that every church will always have all the power. That is not the case, and that is why we seek revival from the Lord. But we will always have at least some of the power to go with the presence. With this in mind we immediately come to learn that true “revival” is not “worked up”, it’s “prayed down”! It happens, when God happens. It doesn’t happen, just because we want it to happen, or desire it to happen, or claim some kind of magical Biblical promise or verse for it to happen. Revival is “God with us”, not just in a bare indwelling, but in a mighty and powerful, life-changing and soul-capturing way. It is all about God. And if it’s all about Him, it is all about the Holy Spirit, for He speaks only of Him, and glorifies Him constantly (Jn. 15: 26; Jn. 16: 13; 1Jn. 4: 6). I still long to see the day when God pours out Himself upon His people, “like a rushing mighty wind” (Acts 2: 2). If we study the situational teachings, of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the early church, we can make an astounding discovery concerning the nature of Pentecost and true revival.

Here’s the deal….the real deal, so listen very carefully. Jesus put the Holy Spirit “in the church” in John 20: 22. “And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit” . This is when the church received the “presence”. It was before Jesus ever left, because He promised that He would not “leave them Comfortless” (Jn. 14: 16, 18). The Holy Spirit was not given as the “presence” on the day of Pentecost. That happened in John 20: 22. On Pentecost the church received the “power of the presence”. It was an outpouring of powerful gifts…a mighty rushing wind of fire and power. So here’s the deal. Jesus put the “Spirit in the church” in John 20: 22; and He put “the church in the Spirit” in Acts chapter 2! There is a difference, and because this is true, Pentecost is not the birthday of the church, as dispensationalist want you to believe. It is the outpouring of a true revival, a deluge of the Holy Spirit’s power and gifts. The birthday of the church was when Christ said “Upon this rock I build my church” (Matt. 16:18 note: the words “I will“ are not in the Greek. The word used is oikodomeo and it means simply “build“). Pentecost is therefore a great and wonderful revival. It should be the pattern for all true and subsequent revivals. It’s what we are wanting and waiting for. It is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, not in ‘presence” but in “power”. May God grant us just such a revival in our day. God knows that we need it now as never before.


3. Some Concluding Remarks

We have seen that the concept of God “gifting” His people with the spiritual gifts of “power” and “ministry”, is a concept that cannot be taken away from the church. All the “gifts of God” are essential to the survival and fitness of the church in every age. “The gates of Hell shall not prevail against the church” (Matt. 16: 18), because the Church is well equipped by God to overcome hell’s forces, and to display all the powers of the Kingdom of light. To say that the gifts have ceased, (as in the doctrine of Cessationism), is to deny that the church is fully equipped to do all the work that Jesus has sent her forth to do. (Look up Mark 16: 15-20). A Church thus crippled and maimed, is ineffective, weak, lacking in vibrancy and vitality. It is not the Church of the New Testament, no matter what it thinks about itself, no matter what it claims to be. A true Church is patterned after God’s model, not after men’s ideas.

The “normative” pattern for a New Testament Church is found in the book of Acts. A true New Testament Church is therefore a “powerful witnessing machine”. It’s power is not in the energy of the flesh, but in the power of God (1Cor. 2: 4). Any concept of a Church which does not at least allow for the Sovereign operations of the Holy Spirit, is not a true Church at all. You can say what you want about this, but the fact is that all of the Churches in the book of Acts gave evidence of the full operation of the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit. Healings took place, speaking in tongues was a regular occurrence, people were saved by the thousands, and even “giving” was viewed as a supernatural gift (Acts 2: 44-45; Acts 4: 32; Rom. 12: 6-8). Today’s Church is generally a far cry from this pattern.

Let me reiterate this very important point. I am not advocating anything like Pentecostalism, or Charismaticism here. These systems are bogus, because the gifts they claim to present are clearly the products of the flesh, and not the products of the Holy Spirit. A clear example would be the gift of tongues as it is presented in these movements. Because they base their doctrine of this gift almost wholly from the book of Corinthians, they emphasize only the concept that tongues is some sort of “heavenly language”. While it is true that “glossalalia” can be an angelic language, sometimes called a “prayer language”, it is not true that this is the only manifestation of the gift. Part of the gift, indeed the most important part, involves speaking in known human tongues which the “giftee” has never learned before. Why is it, that in the Charismatic and Pentecostal Churches, we see only half of the supposed gift of tongues in operation? I have a problem with this, especially since I have the gift of “interpretation of tongues”. It seems to me that if only half of the gift is being manifested week in and week out, and that if we never see the more important “known languages” part of the gift, that something is amiss. Indeed something is terribly wrong. The Costal’s get around this dilemma by saying that there are actually two different gifts of tongues. One in Acts which was speaking in known foreign languages, and a different gift of speaking in “unknown tongues” in the book of Corinthians. This distinction is false, and is not based on anything from the Bible. The fact is, that “tongues” is “tongues”, and there are not two separate gifts, but only one. All tongues, even “prayer language” tongues are real languages which are not native to the tongues speaker. The people who have this gift, whether they realize it or not, can speak in whatever language God needs them to speak in at the time that He needs them to speak. If you have one half of the gift, then you should also have the other half of the gift. No verse say’s that you are only given “angelic tongues” to the exclusion of all the other known languages.  The whole gift is given, every time that it is given. God does not bestow the gifts in bits and pieces. He always gives the entire gift. Anyone who say’s that they only have half of a gift is deceived. I have cited this example of “tongues” only because I wanted to point out how the gifts in the “costal and matic” churches function outside the clear parameters of Scripture. That’s how we know that these supposed gifts are really false. We judge based on what the Bible teaches, not based on what people claim to be experiencing. All experiences have to measure up with the Bible, or they are simply the flesh or the Devil.  Those who have visited my website RevEarlJackson.com know that I have an extensive paper there on the gift of tongues, and in it I explain the concept of "multi-linguistic speech" a term which I have coined, and which I feel sets forth the Biblical paramaters of the gift of tongues.  The point is that the Holy Spirit does not give half gifts.

I could go through all of the gifts the same way, pointing out that they are never partially given. How about “prophecy” is there such a thing as a half prophet? Or how about “healing”? Does a person only get half the gift? Can he only heal half way? How would the interpretation of tongues function? If the giftee only received half of the gift, would he only be able to half way interpret? I have chosen to mention only ’tongues” because it is supposedly the most widely distributed gift. But I could have used any of the other gifts as examples just as easily. In some “costal and matic” churches they teach that every genuine Christian is supposed to speak in tongues, and if you don’t then you are not saved. If this is true, then missionaries should not have to go to language school to learn to speak Russian or Japanese. If all Christians have the gift of tongues, then language should never be a barrier. The fact is, all Christians do not have the gift of tongues. Very few Christians actually have this gift. What passes off so easily as a gift in the “costal and matic” circles is nothing but the flesh and psychological manipulation. Bellowing away in gibberish is not the gift of tongues. It is simply ecstaticism. Barking like a dog, clucking like a chicken, or grunting like a pig is not the gift of tongues. Babbling single syllable, or poly syllabic nonsense, is not the gift of tongues. The parameters of the gift are clearly laid out in Scripture, and none of these things qualify as the genuine article.

I am not trying to win friends and influence people here. That does not interest me in the least. But what does interest me, is the fact that thousands, and even millions of people, are being duped by phony gifts, and false teachers in the “costal and matic” churches and groups. Because of them, I have to work twice as hard to present the true Biblical doctrines of the gifts of the holy Spirit. I have to spend most of my time, pointing out their heresies, and properly defining the biblical words, because their message and teaching has provided wholesale mental pollution to the world’s mind-eye. People see all this “matic and costal” flamboyancy and out of control ecstaticism, and because of it, they reject the true Biblical position. They just automatically heap us all together in one big boiling pot because in their mind all evangelicals are the same. That’s why I have tried to underscore the important concept that the Biblicist’s should never be associated with Pentecostalism or Charismaticism. I don’t want anybody, anywhere to think that just because I believe in the “gifts”, that I believe in all this other nonsense as well. I do not. And all that stuff is false, and I can prove it to anyone from the Bible. Actually, even a relatively smart third grader, can prove to any sensible thinking adult, that uncontrollable babbling and grunting, is not the gift of tongues. You do not have to be a Theologian to read the book of Acts and compare it with what you see around you. I’m sorry, but the “costal and matic” nonsense is nowhere found in the pages of the Word of God. But, and I’m very glad of this fact, the genuine gifts of the Holy Spirit are found all through the New Testament. They are freely given by God, and every true Church should make room for them, and desire to see them operational in their assemblies. This should be our posture. “Yes Lord, we believe your word. We recognize that you give the gifts of the Spirit as you see fit. We open our hearts, and we pledge to seek out those among us who are so gifted, and we will never in any way hinder the operation of the gifts which you have given to edify your body…the body of Christ…the Church!” This is how we must think. And this is how we must act. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are for today.

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